Stourbridge

We've been in Stourbridge for a week now, while Dave has been doing bits and bobs around the area, such as painting out the grafitti & clearing up dog poo etc, just to tidy things up ready for the boat rally - or "Open Weekend" as it's called. Boats have been arriving thick and fast over the last couple of days, and the organisers are hoping for anything up to 80 boats. On the day we arrived last week, there happened to be a jazz night in the bonded warehouse so we went along - it was great. Packed out & very entertaining.

Old arms & buildings on the way into the Stourbridge Arm.

Stourbridge Town Hall (opened 1887)

Unfortunately, Stourbridge town in plagued with charity shops.  There's a shop for every charity you could think of - from the usual Oxfam & various children's charities - to "Happy Staffie Rescue".  I haven't counted them, but there must be more than 25!  Sadly, the indoor market area is deserted, but there are plans for it's redevelopment - by Tesco.  There's a beautiful clock there, which gives a lovely display at 12 noon, when the figures go round....

We'll be here till at least Tuesday, which will give us time to visit the laundrette, collect my new glasses (eyes that is - not the chink chink cheers variety - although with all these glass works around here.....)

End of the Shroppie & onto Staffs & Wus

A slow couple of hours on Sunday, as we hit a fishing competition just before Wheaton Aston - miles of em!  A boat travelling towards us warned us they were there & he had counted 72 fishermen.  It was amusing to see, as we approached them, that they turn away & rummage in their maggot pots to avoid making eye contact.  How about one of them, just one, saying "Thank you for going at tick over". That'd make a nice change.

The wind was making things very difficult between the M54 and Autherley junction as it's quite exposed.  We were pleased to be turning onto the S & W where we were a bit more sheltered.

This mini narrowboat is moored at Oxley, unfortunately it wasn't moored next to another 'normal' size narrowboat, so you can see the difference in size.  Just after turning onto the S&W, a lovely surprise - Dave produced a bottle of bubbly which he'd been hiding in the gas locker, to celebrate our anniversary!  He's after brownie points ....  We moored above Dimingsdale locks & walked up to The Greyhound at Lower Penn which was featured in the local CAMRA brochure.  Another great find.  Hand pulls, great local beer, good food - bit pricey tho' but it was our anniversary after all. (More brownie points for Dave)

Thanks Mum for the lovely oasis you gave us last week as we wouldn't be around for 'the day'.

I love these things, someone with ALOT of time on their hands has been defacing/enhancing (which ever view you take), old tree stumps and sign posts all the way down the cut.  Makes me smile anyway!

Beautiful old plough at Awbridge lock

When we arrived at the Bratch today, there was a bloke with a camera who asked if we would mind him filming us entering the locks.  No problem says Dave, as I dived inside to put some slap & lippy on!  No pressure then - I was driving & thankfully didnt touch the sides & we descended perfectly - being filmed each step of the way. Phew.

No I haven't got the picture the wrong way round - this is the stonework exiting Greensforge lock, showing genuine erosion caused be ropes on the stone - rather than the stuck on false stuff you see on the sides of bridges.

Last pic of the day, beautiful deer sculptures at the garden centre Greensforge.  Moored tonight below Rocky lock.  Stourbridge tomorrow, as it's a convenient place for Dave to get to his Aunty's funeral in Plymouth, then we're there for the clean up weekend, the weekend before the rally.

Blakemere to the Anchor

We had a night with our friend Bill at Colemere (A.K.A. Steam Boat Bill) who had made a 'lightning machine' Tesla coil, amazing - but very noisy.  We continued on our way the next morning feeling rather delicate after one too many bottles of the red stuff.

Lightning indoors!!!

For this next bit of the journey, it would help set the scene if you would hum the theme tune to the film "Jaws"  duh duh, duh duh, duh duh, duh duh, duh duh, duh duh dahhhh! "There's something in the water" AGHHHHH It's Jawcals (Jaws) the day boat from Trevor Basin, sneaking up on us round Bettisfield as we stopped for water!  There's no getting away from them.  The good news however, is that it's been sold, and Jack from Anglo Welsh is delivering it to Norbury Junction.  (As I write this blog, moored at The Anchor, Jawcals passes us again).

We caught up with Jack again at Grindley Brook where I helped him down the single locks, as we were in a queue to go down the staircase.  When I returned to the top Beefur was next in line (3rd) to go down.  "There's no one coming up" I said to the lockkeeper, "Is that a fact? No one's told me" very grumpily (you've probably worked it out that it wasn't Gary on duty that day).  "Yes, actually, it is a fact!" Dave explained to Mr. Grumpy that I'd been to the bottom of the locks to lock the day boat down & noted that there wasn't any one on their way up, & thought he might like to know, as the boats were stacking up at the top.  "Sue! sorry I didn't recognise you". I was only trying to be friendly to an ex-colleague, I shan't bother next time!

We thankfully got through the Wrenbury lift bridge without incident - unlike friends Ken & Denise a couple of weeks ago:  Denise operated the bridge & Ken went through without problem, but then the bridge would not go down.  The traffic was piling up, and tempers were fraying for the jammed motorists, who by now had started honking horns.  A farmer who was also in the queue, jumped out of his tractor with a large sledgehammer and started to walk towards the bridge.  "Its not my fault" shouted Denise at the farmer, whereupon he wacked the bridge with his sledgehammer, and it started to descend "That's got it, it's been playing up for weeks & BW were here to fix it this morning".

Fantastic sunrise near Wrenbury

From Wrenbury, we had a leisurely 30 mins walk to the Bhurtpore Inn.  A fantastic pub with 15 handpulls, extensive menu and great food. Well worth a detour from the canal. Beautiful old buildings here, this one states that it was built in 1667!

We don't think we've ever seen so many boats around at this time of year.  We've queued at nearly every lock.  Loads of boats at Coole Pilate, including blogger NB Armadillo, we exchanged pleasantries as we passed by & carried on our way. 

As we went through Market Drayton, this little black dog fancied his chances with 7 very large signets, mum and dad.  Needless to say, he backed off pretty quickly!

We continued our journey - no time for leisurely stops, as we had a rendevous at The Anchor, high Offley, with friends Mike & Hazel (NB Tess of Wooton), who were going to set up their tent there for the night.  We have never seen so many boats at The Anchor & the pub was heaving, stuffed to the gunnels with boaters and campers, with most tables outside occupied, which was a wonderful treat to be able to sit outside till late at this time of year.  There were plenty of musicians, and we had a fantastic night, and even stayed till after midnight - very unusual for us - we only do "early doors"!

Off we go!

Bit of a monologue today, trying to catch up: We finally ‘set sail’ at 4pm Sunday, after loading the wood onto the roof, and watching the F1 Grand Prix. Button 2^nd, so worth waiting for. We’re “spot the live-aboards” traversing the cut, huge amounts of wood covered with plastic sheets, though the flowers seem to lessen the impact. We knew the weather would change for the better, as se swapped our summer clothes for winter outfits from my Mum’s loft, and retrieved all the wooly jumpers, hats, scarves, gloves, wellies & sou’westers. The weather is glorious, and we’re appreciating it in our vests.

We made it to the Lion Quays & had a mediocre meal served in a poncy bowl. Is it too much to ask to have a dinner on a plate? There were a lot of boats on the move & still a queue coming up New Marton Locks on Monday, no problem for us going down. No doubt there’ll be a queue Wed morning coming down when they all return from Llangollen. We moored in our favourite spot at the end of Blakemere Monday evening, for me to admire the sunset over the mere, whilst Dave walked back to the White Heart. Good news - after a few years of temporary managers and periods of closure, the pub is open and serving great beer with 4 hand pulls. The current Landlord has sold his house, given up his day job and moved in full time and wants to make a go of it. I just hope the brewery don’t do their usual trick of doubling the rent as they start to make a profit.

The queue to go up New Marton bottom lock

People have been lovely over the last few days. The usual dog walkers, pram pushers & locals have been shouting across “not long now till you’re off”. “You’re like swallows” said Elver, the old guy who walks his very fat choc lab past every morning, “be glad to see you back next year - I’ll know summer is on its way”. A local spotted us passing his canal side house on our way to the winding hold, and was waiting for us on our return, arm outstretched with some eggs from his bantams “for the journey” Very kind. We’ve also had people shouting at us “keep blogging”, which was very encouraging. Thanks all.

As we passed Frankton Junction, the two planks - sorry - Oak & Ash Hotel Boats, were being tethered together after having come up the locks. We then quickened our pace, as we didn’t want him tailgating us all the way to Ellesmere. He passed our mooring last Friday morning, again shouting abuse at a passing hire boat (who was desperately trying to get out of his way) and unnecessarily hitting their bow whilst holding his hand on the horn for ages. No need for that.

We had a “Hoot off” last night at Blakemere, with quite a few owls calling to each other in the trees above our heads as we sat on the front deck in the darkness. I wanted to grab my phone and record it all, but was afraid of moving in case I disturbed them.

View from the front of the boat this morning at Blakemere

The optimist in me says, If it continues to be as good as it has been over the last few days, then we’re in for a wonderful cruise. Life doesn’t get better than this. The Pessimist says: I hope we haven’t peaked to early!

the House at bridge 62 has finally been sold, its so overgrown now, so no doubt will be completeley transformed by the time we return next April ...

We’ve stopped at Colemere while pall Bill has a look at our unreliable bubble stove & hijacked his broadband connection.  Bloggers Bendigedig went passed on their way up to Llangollen for the winter.

Sans Souci now sold & we're ready to go!

Sans Souci has been sold and we've delivered her to her new owners at Whixall Marina - so not that far away, and we will no doubt see her again.  Dave was very sad to see her go, after all, it was his home for 18 years, but time moves on, neither of us are getting any younger, and single handed boating was becoming more difficult and cost prohibitive, so having the two boats was rather over indulgent.  Besides, we have a wonderful home on Beefur.  We will both sorely miss the dunky dunk of Sans Souci's single cylinder Armstrong Siddeley.  I'm sure the new owners will appreciate her as much as we did.  Farewell Susi Babe.

The magnificent AS1 .....

Snapped this boat passing, with exactly the same colour scheme as Beefur.  Good Taste.

The flowers are lasting well, so a few indulgent snaps to follow.  Hope they last a couple more weeks till we get to the Stourbridge rally mid Oct.  Makes driving the boat a bit tricky, you have to look down the sides as the geraniums are too high.  Ah well, it adds to the fun, and the colours are fantastic.  They've taken too much TLC to get rid of them, the roof will be back to just wood for the fire in no time, so we'll just hang on to this last bit of summer on the roof.

We're all set for the OFF on Sunday.  The engine has been serviced.  I've stocked up on spares.  I've washed everything that wasn't tied down.  Brasso-ed the things that were tied down till I ran out of elbow grease.  Hazel next door is a whizz with the chain saw, so we've cut up the last of the big logs we collected last winter, in the vain attempt to load them on the roof for our winter fuel this year.  Dave won't leave any flowers behind,  so there won't be alot of room.  I don't know where the summer went, but it's time for us to leave again till next March/April.  I've been studying the stoppages, and we think we'll head for Oxford after Stourbridge, till Christmas - then tum-te-tum round the midlands.

We've had our last trip to Llangollen for this year, and managed to sit outside in the Corn Mill in our coats for a bit before whimping out & going inside, it has to be one of the best pubs we have ever been to, and we're lucky enough to have it as a local.  It's such a treat to get a pub selling 5 or 6 real ales, with views to die for.  The river Dee was running very fierce, but there were still canoeists.  This is a pic of a friend of a friend (sorry about the finger in the shot).  I can see why her nick name is Marbles - cos she's lost em!

Day boat number 6 arrives

Another day, another day boat.  Day boat number 6 was delivered last week, to add to the fleet operating at Anglo Welsh at Trevor Basin.  We had hoped that this meant that one of the old boats would be "retired", but all 6 are operating at the moment.

Brand new boat being delivered - no scratches on the paint - for now.

Dayboat No. 1  "Jawcawls" in action - bouncing off the concrete then into the boat moored in front of us, then back to the concrete.  It missed us though.

We seem to have survived the busiest week of the season, August bank holiday week.  The kids start to go back to school this week so the number of hire boats decrease, only to be replaced by the private and ownership boats.  Although there has been a huge number of boats around this summer (we counted 108 one day), they don't set off at stupid-o'clock in the morning - they're on holiday!!! Unlike the private boats who tear past at 5.30am, so as to get a good run at it [llangollen].  So we're preparing ourselves for a few early starts in the weeks ahead.  We'll no doubt get an 'owners club' convoy of 18-20 narrowboats over the next couple of weeks, who always remark "Isn't it busy here?" "Well it wasn't until you lot turned up".

Beefur and Sans Souci out for a final cruise together (more of that in a future blog)

We didn't want to miss out on the fun at such a busy time in August, so we went on a jolly to Ellesmere/Blakemere.  On the way back up the locks at New Marton, we were number 3 in the queue going up, which is great for this time of year.  However, the queue at the top lock waiting to come down was something else - 14 boats.  We must have passed another 25-30 boats over the next 2 hours, all heading for the queue.  You queue to go up on a Tuesday, and queue to go down on a Wednesday, always the busiest days of the week.  Unfortunately, when you meet the boats coming down they're all grumpy for having had to queue and then rush you through the locks ("helping") by opening the top paddles with gusto before you've fully entered the lock "OI - it's OUR lock, OUR boat, OUR home, slow down or step away".

On a lighter note, Beefur's flowers are exceptional this year, and we are the proud recipients of the certificate for "Best narrowboat" as part of the Best Kept Garden Competition 2011 (Wales in Bloom), awarded by Llangollen Rural Community Council.  Just for a bit of community spirit, but it makes it very rewarding when you actually win something for your efforts.



Squid-tastic!

Our pal Nigel has been out and about showing off his new paint job......

Courtesy of the artist  Phlegm (awful name)

Another day, another day boat.  My heart sank last week, when day boat number 5 was delivered to Anglo Welsh at Trevor Basin.  I had hoped that it would replace one of the other 4, but sadly no - all 5 were out on Saturday.

Thank you for slowing down! 

We've been out and about ourselves most weekends during this summer, either up to Llangollen or downhill to Ellesmere or down the Monty.  Rachel & co came to stay with Mum a couple of weeks ago, so of course we had to do a boat trip.  On another occasion, we had a wonderful afternoon in Llangollen watching Thomas the Tank and friends - including the Fat Controller.  Fantastic! (Yes - we were watching from the balcony of the Corn Mill!)

I haven't blogged due to the fact that (1) my phone did not like being connected to the computer, so couldn't download any pics, and (2) the camera packed up - and remains dead.  Last couple of pics for today ... Nemo cat celebrated his 1st birthday, which is a remarkable achievement due to the amount of times he's fallen in the canal.  He is - i'm very pleased to say, a little more sturdy on his feet now.

Nemo's at the top of the steps, with his next door neighbour Gypsy below him.